Archive for September, 2009

TSN is reporting that Dave Tippett is next in line to coach the Hamilton/Phoenix/Saskatoon Coyotes. I was never a fan of Tippett and I think this is a pretty terrible hire and shows that the management really has NO interest in bettering the Coyotes. I sure hope the young guys who need lots of guidance get it from one of the assistant coaches since Tippett’s coaching style resembles a mute mime scowling because he lost his banana.

Sorry it’s taken so long to update in Amyland. School has been pretty busy, and I’ve spent most of my time reading about hockey on other sites instead of writing in my own blog. Anyway, here’s to hoping for a little more regular posting as the season begins.

I went to the first day of training camp two Sundays ago. It was great to see hockey! I also ran into Myra and family from Laughs 2 Loud and had a good time talking to them for a little bit. The Stars were practicing at the normal practice rink and the new Dr. Pepper rink upstairs. If you haven’t been to Frisco this season, I highly recommend that you go when you can catch something in the new arena. I stayed in the new arena for most of the practice because that’s where Brenden and Jamie Benn were. 🙂 The new rink really nice and has a good Stars-y feel. I didn’t get too many good pictures at practice because I was sitting right behind the bench. There will be some after the jump (mostly Brenden and Jamie’s backs lol).

I went back to Dallas last weekend for the Saturday practice. I managed to catch several of the players coming in for the later practice, and got some good pictures and autographs. I watched the game guys practice for about 30 minutes and perfected my Jamie Benn radar. He hasn’t even played one regular season game and I can already pick him out of everyone on the ice. After practice, I waited around for a while and saw several of the guys leaving for the game in St. Louis. Seeing hockey players is always great, but seeing hockey players in suits is even better! I managed to completely forget to ask Richie to sign my jersey because he came out with Jamie Benn and I got a little distracted… I actually talked to Jamie though and told him I’d be the first person to get one of his jerseys. I like to think I was good luck because he scored twice in the game later that night 🙂

It is so great to see the guys skating again. I was really hoping to see Besko again the second time I went, but he had already been sent down. I would have loved a picture with him.

Most of all, it’s great to see Brenden out on the ice smiling and having a good time. I missed that last year.

Without further ado, here are some pictures (after the jump). There are just a couple now because WordPress is so unfriendly with uploading things and I have econ to work on. (more…)

Even though he only played in Dallas a few seasons, he'll always be a Star to me.

TSN is reporting that Phillipe Boucher has announced his retirement today. Although Boo was only with the Stars for a few short seasons, I really enjoyed watching him the years he was in Dallas.

I saw two very memorable Boucher moments in person, and one of them was great while the other was actually pretty terrifying.

I saw him score his only career hat trick (I think this was his only one, but let me know if I’m wrong!) against the L.A. Kings on one of my family’s “day after Thanksgiving” hockey holidays. This was in the 2006-07 season where Boucher set a personal career record in goals and a Dallas Stars team record in goals. He was also on the starting lineup for the 2007 All-Star game that was played in Dallas. He did this all while he had to deal with tremendous personal problems off the ice.

In the 2003-04 season, we also saw Boucher take a slapshot to the eye in a game against New Jersey. Ironically, this was also on the day after Thanksgiving. Boo certainly was the man of the hour for most of those games. Seeing a player get seriously injured on the ice is something that never leaves your mind, even though no one ever wants to experience it. Luckily, Boo was able to recover from that and came back wearing a visor full-time (his wife made him).

Boo had a wicked slapshot from the point and a huge heart that showed in every shift he was on the ice. His problem was that he often had trouble staying healthy, and as a result, he lost several seasons due to long-term injuries that kept him out of the regular season and the playoffs.

Boucher retires as a Stanley Cup Champion, and I am happy for him (even if it was with the Pens). He definitely gets a Two Sign Girl Salute! Hopefully he will retire back to Dallas, and maybe we will see him around the Stars someday.